1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anesthetic evacuation regulator, and more particularly pertains to the use of a device to control the exhaust of an anesthetic administering system into the air. In the field of anesthetic application, there is a hazard to the doctor due to the exhaust of anesthetic gases into the air. One such hazard exists in dentist offices where anesthetic is used to control pain during dental procedures. This is also a problem in veterinary offices where surgical cages are used to hold the animal during surgical procedures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of anesthetic evacuation regulators are known in the prior art. A typical example of such an anesthetic evacuation regulator is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,066 which issued to Milliken et al. The Milliken patent discloses the use of a valve to control the exhausting of anesthesia gases. The device uses a spring loaded valve to control the flow of gases from the pop-off valve to the exhausting system. The device does not show the use of a simple anesthetic equalizer to control the exhaust flow. It also does not show the use of an easily adjustable valve which can be adjusted to help evacuate the waste gases following a procedure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,020, which issued to Czajka, shows the use of another spring loaded circuit which exhausts anesthesia gases from a mask during the use of anesthesia. As with the Milliken device, it does not shown the novel features of applicant's invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,651, which issued to Steigerwald, shows the use of a waste gas evacuation system which is designed to attach itself to the ventilation bag of an anesthesia device. Owing to the nature of this device, it is neither as accurate or as convenient as the device of the applicant, which easily attaches to the waste gas (pop-off) valve currently in use on many anesthesia machines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,558, which issued to Hoenig, shows the use of an exhaust device which attaches to the exhaust port of a normal anesthesia mask. The system uses a series of valves which control the exhausted gases of the patient. The important feature of this patent is the use of a surge reservoir which can contain a large volume of exhausted gases. The vacuum is then attached to this device to exhaust the gases. The use of the reservoir serves to avoid the need to adjust the vacuum level needed to exhaust the gasses without overcoming the spring loaded exhaust valves in the anesthesia system. The present invention utilizes an easily variable exhaust pressure which eliminates the need for this extra hardware since the vacuum can be adjusted to a low enough level to exhaust the air without opening the pop-off valve in the anesthesia system due to excess vacuum.
While the above mentioned devices are suited for their intended usage, none of these devices show the use of an easily adjustable anesthesia exhausting system. Furthermore none of the above system show the use of a system which is capable of driving multiple units at one time under different conditions. Additionally, none of the prior art devices disclose the use of an atmospheric equalizer valve which provides instant adjustment at the location of use of the amount of vacuum pressure being applied. Inasmuch as the art is relatively crowded with respect to these various types of anesthetic evacuation regulators, it can be appreciated that there is a continuing need for and interest in improvements to such anesthetic evacuation regulators, and in this respect, the present invention addresses this need and interest.